N.Korean parliament re-elects Kim Jong-un as state leader

North Korea's Kim Jong-un has been re-elected to retain his almighty leader post in a plenary session of the rubber stamp parliament as widely expected.

The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday that the unicameral Supreme People's Assembly also reconfirmed the posts of Prime Minister Pak Pong-ju and nominal head of state Kim Yong-nam.

In the first session of the newly-elected Assembly, leader Kim's close confidant Choi Ryong-Hae was elected as one of three vice chairmen of the National Defence Commission (NDC), the hard-line communist state's top military decision-making body.

The Wednesday session was closely monitored for a possible large-scale change in the hierarchy following the abrupt execution of Kim's once-powerful uncle and close aide Jang Song-thaek on treason charges in December.

Kim, also first secretary of the Hermit Kingdom's ruling Workers' Party of Korea and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, wasreaffirmed as First Chairman of the NDC by the new parliament, according to KCNA.